Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Some mothers in China may be singing another "battle hymn" of their aspirations for their children, according to the LA Times this morning, "Blaming the victims" by Mei Fong. She writes that 160,000 Chinese students have come a year to study in US colleges. But with the tragic, recent murder of the couple near the USC campus this month, and along with other factors, Chinese parents may be putting the brakes on this education-abroad trend. Returning Chinese students are finding it difficult to land jobs, some may not be acquiring fluent English skills having socialized almost exclusively with fellow Chinese students, and they may be returning with liberal arts degrees vs. technology/science, and have unrealistic salary expectations. The author validates the student-abroad program as "an exercise of informal diplomacy" but notes that the news of the USC couple's death fostered a "they deserved to die" sentiment among some Chinese internet bloggers, stemming from anti-American and "haves vs. have-nots sentiment.